Tobacco product and method of obtaining the same



May 16, 1939. M. R. coE

'roBAcco PRODUCT AND METHOD oF oummc THE SAME Filed Nov. 1B. 1936 '4 INVENTUR M RLUE F.- E, p

ATTORNEYS Patented May 16, 1939 UNITED s TA'ras PATENT OFFICE TOBACCO PRODUCT AND METHOD 0F BTANING THE SAME 9Claims.

(Granted under the act oi' March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is in part a continuation of my application Serial No. '701.733, led December 9, 1933.

This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to tobacco products and the method of treating the tobacco for obtaining the same.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a new and improved method and means of treating tobacco so that the products may possess a superior davor, aroma and smoking quality and further that this product may retain such flavor, aroma and smoking quality until used.

Another object ofthe invention is the provision l of a new and improved method of treating tobacco.

whereby the long period of preparing the tobacco for consumption may be materially shortened without injuriously aiecting the iiavor, aroma and smoking quality of the same.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved method of enhancing the davor, aroma and smoking quality oi' packaged tobacco and for preserving the same over long periods of time and to assist in the aging thereof.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved tobacco product having an improved iiavor,.aroma and smoking quality.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved tobacco product in which the volatile nicotine content is materially reduced for the purpose o! reducing irritating qualities in tobacco smoke.

As at present practiced. the process of treating harvested tobacco to convert it into the iinished or packaged product of commerce ready for consumption by the ultimate consumer is a long and complicated one. It involves at least the step lmown as curing" and with most processes. the step known as "sweating or fermentation, A third step is' often included, known as aging.

It is common practice in the curing of tobacco to sever the stalks adjacent to the ground when the leaves reach a certain stage in the ripening process, and the stalks hung in the barn for drying. In other methods, the leaves are stripped from the growing stalks and hung up in barns for drying. 'Ihis is called curing" the tobacco and usually requires from one to several months. Other methods of curing, such as exposure to the direct suns rays, called sun curing; subjecting the cut tobacco plants after acquiring a rich yellow color, to the effect of slow fires lighted on the barn noors, called fire curing; and curing the plant by iiue-heat"; are also practiced.

Great skill and care is required during the socalled curing period. If the weather is too dry, moisture in the form of steam is added. and if there is too much moisture in the air. ilres are employed to remedy this defect. During this l0 period, numerous deteriorating agents may develop, such as white mold, yellow and blue mold, stem rot, and many others, some of which may destroy an entire crop within as short a time as two days. 1

During the curing period, many chemical changes take place within the curing leaves, some of which are known and some of which are not. For instance, the starch and sugar content undergoes changes during the early stages of the curing period, and in the later stage, enzymes appear to be active. Changes also occur in the color and iiavqr of the tobacco.

After the curing period, the leaves are stripped from the stalk and are made into bunches or 25 hands of six to twenty leaves or more by twisting another leaf around the lower or stem end of the hand.

The tobacco is then ready for the "sweating" or fermentation period, as it is called. This step develops in the leaves, the characteristic qualities of the commercial article. It is during this period that much of the desirable aroma. iiavor and smoking quality are developed.

yThis step is usually accomplished by stacking u,

the hands" in heaps when the tobacco is in case, that is, when it is more or less moist so that it is not friable. The mass is kept in a moderately warm place and soon begins to heat. Extreme care must be taken to prevent the rise of the temperature above 120 1'". or at most, 130 F. It is then restacked from time to time to prevent it from becoming too warm. The mass may be restacked as much as five or six times during the fermentation period which may last from one to two months or longer.

During this period. numerous chemical changes occur, some of which affect the nicotine, ammonia content and other nitrogenous constituents, some the color, flavor and aroma, and many others that are not understood. Even the causes for certain of the changes are in dispute.

After the fermentation, the tobacco may be subjected to what is'known as the "aging step which comprises packing the tobacco tightly into bales or hogsheads or other containers and storing the same in warehouses or the like under moderate and fairly uniform temperature for a number of years. Further changes take place during this period that develop mellowness and the desirable iiavor and aroma characteristic of the better class of tobacco.

'Ihe present invention seeks to improve the commercial product by treating tobacco at any period in its processing stage, or after it is packaged for consumption, by a new and improved method whereby a product is developed having a milder and more desirable flavor, aroma and greater freedom from irritating qualities than would lotherwise be produced.

It has been found by experiment, for instance. that if the tobacco be enclosed in a wrapper which admits only those light rays above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum during the curing" operation, that a product is obtained having a superior smoking quality, avor and aroma due to certain photo-chemical changes caused by such rays when the tobacco is subjected to them alone during the curing operation.

It has also been found that tobacco products while being cured and prepared for use by the usual processes, suffer a rapid loss of flavor and s ama from exposure to ordinary light or sunlight. This is particularly noticeable after it has been prepared for market in the form of smoking and chewing tobacco or as cigarettes and cigars.

It has been found, however, that not all light rays are harmful to this air cured plant product, and that the harmful wave lengths of light are below 490 Angstrom units of the spectrum. Spen ciflcally, it has been found that exposure of this plant product to ultra-violet, violet and blue wave lengths of light results in a loss by the product of mildness, flavor and aroma. Tobacco in its various forms exposed to ordinary light, which includes ultra-violet, violet and blue lightrays acquires a rank smoking quality and suiers a loss of that pleasing aroma and mildness so prized by the users of tobacco.

While it is found that the light rays specified above lying below 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum are definitely harmful to the cured tobacco products, wave lengths of light above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum, when admitted to the products, have a decidedly beneficial e'ect in that the desirable flavor and aroma and smoking quality are enhanced.

It is further found, however, that the wave lengths of light above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum vary in respect to their preservative and enhancing quality in the particular above disclosed. It is found, for example, that chlorophyll green rays of light may be admitted to the product after it has been prepared for consumption with extremely beneficial results. Smoking tobacco, cigarettes and cigars protected for a period of fifteen days by a transparent or translucent chlorophyll green screen or wrapper were mild in smoking quality, that is, they were less irritating to the throat, possessed a fragrant tobacco aroma and were very pleasing to the smoker, while products of like quality exposed to ordinary light for the same period, as compared to the tobacco product protected by the chlorophyll green wrapper, had acquired a rank smoking quality and suffered a loss of pleasing aroma. Both lots of tobacco products used in this test were protected from moisture.

The we of chlorophyll green wrapper or screen inthe respect disclosed above is found to be the most helpful of the wave lengths of light above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum. Orange yellow wrappers are next in order of beneficial results. The other wave lengths of light above 49 Angstrom units of the spectrum also have a beneficial effect on the products but are not as valuable in this respect as are the chlorophyll green and orange-yellow wrappers.

Such products, if protected, from ultra-violet, violet and blue light rays and exposed to chlorophyll green or orange-yellow wave lengths of light during the curing period, or at `any stage thereafter, acquire a noticeably superior smoklng quality, iiavor and aroma.

Air curing of .such products may be done under the influence of the particular protective light screen disclosed by admitting only those helpful rays to the products. Tobacco may be cured in barns which are constructed to admit only chlorophyll green rays of light and thereafter the tobacco products should be enclosed in transparent or translucent chlorophyll green or orange-yellow wrappers or containers which, in addition to their beneficial effectiveness, possess an attractive appearance.

After the tobacco is ready for consumption and has been previously irradiated with rays of light above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum, all rays of light, including the harmful ultra-violet, violet and blue rays, may be excluded by enclosing the processed tobacco product in opaque containers with beneficial results, but the packaged product is not as attractive from a sales point of view.

A particularly attractive, protective and efflcient cigarette or cigar package may be formed by wrapping or enclosing the cigarettes) or cigars in a chlorophyll green or orange-yellow transparent or translucent wrapper or container, the ends of which have an inner layer lining of binder, such as one of the foils. This binder material or foil associated with the ends of the wrapper serves to hold the folded or closing portion or the twisted ends (in the case of a single cigar of the protecting color screen in a closed position. The binder material or foil may be secured to the ends of the colored wrapper and extend beyond the wr'apper. In this form, the binder material must be opaque, and alone serves as a closing medium. The opaque binder material excludes all harmful light from the tobacco at the ends of the package.

If the tobacco be subjected to light rays above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum during thc curing period, the likelihood of the development of mold or other deteriorating agents is reduced to a minimum or entirely eliminated. If the tobacco product be subjected to such rays during either or both the fermentation and aging periods, the length of time required for those periods will be materially shortened, or the two may be entirely eliminated with certain types of tobacco or kinds of tobacco products if the tobacco has been previously properly treated with such rays.

It is not known what the chemical changes are that take place while tobacco is being irradiated with rays of light having a wave length above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum, but it is known that changes do occur. For instance, it has been found by experiment that if cigars be cut in two and one end be subjected to chlorophyll green rays for a period of a few days and the other not, and then each be subjected to the photographic nlm test (a test where a sensitized tllm is exposed in the dark i'or a length of time to the material under investigation, tobacco in this case), the nlm exposed to tobacco which had been subjected to such rays will be logged while theother will not, thus proving that the treated portion has undergone a chemical change. Furthermore, it has-been demonstrated that tobacco subjectedtothe chlorophyll rays appreciably darkens the illm more than the tobacco enclosed in ioil and which has not been so exposed.

The change in smoking characteristics.V davor and aroma is also noted. Although the changes in flavor and aroma are not chemically determinable according to Johnson-Studies on the Fermentation of Tobacco"-published in the Journal oi' Agricultural Research". vol. 49, No. 2, pages l and 150, nevertheless. they are easily detected by organoleptic tests which. according to Johnson, even for fine distinctions, "may be, for allopra'ctical purposes, sufficiently reliablel, page 1 o Tests also show that the nicotine content or composition of tobacco treated with such rays is different from that contained in tobacco not so treated. What these varied chemical changes are is not known and any theory advanced would be but little better than a guess. It is known that nicotine exists in the tobacco plant in the form of a free base, which is volatile, and in the form oi a salt that is not volatile. (Chemical Investigations of the Tobacco' Plant by Vlckery, Pucher. Wakeman. and Leavenworth, 1933, page 20.) It is also known that there is, a material reduction in the volatile alkaloid content of tobacco so treated and this is true whether the Without committing myself to any theory asv to the Vchemical changes effected, it is believed 4that probably light rays above 4900 Angstrom units when admitted alone to the tobacco during any period o! its processing or after it is prepared i'or the market, may cause, among other things. changes in the state of the nicotine composition by stabilizing combined nicotine molecules or by causing chemical changes where the volatile nicotine constituents are removed or rendered less volatile .o that in smoking, for instance. there will be little or no volatile nicotine freed from the tobacco in advance of the actual burning thereof, or at least the amount will be materially reduced. In tobacco processed in the conventional manner in a considerable portion of the nicotine content thereof is volatile and is volatllized in smoking cigars or cigarettes immediately in advance of the burning thereof and it ls this volatilized nicotine or like alkaloid substances that are so irritating to the mucus mem-.- brane oi the mouth and throat ofv the smoker. This volatile nicotine composition 4is volatilized by heat in advance of the actual burning,` whereas, nicotine in the i'orm o! a salt or stable form is actually burnedand when burned in smoking, is practically harmless.

In my -curing operation and in my operation ,substitutiv'e ofV aging, I subject tobacco to light above substantially 4900 ngstrm units and exclude from saidtobacco all light below substantially 4900 '.ngstrm units of the spectrum at any time between the harvesting of. the tobacco the spectrumlying below 5,000 Angstrom units of the spectrum.

For the purpose of illustration the accompanying drawing shows two methods by which this invention may be practiced. Figure l is a perspective view of cigars 3 enclosed in a transparent container 4. Said container constitutes a light lter which excludes all light below 4900 Angstrom units and adm'its all light above 4900 Angstrom units. This illter may be of other designs. For example, it may be translucent instead of transparent, and it may exclude all light below 4900 Angstrom units and admit light within the range of 4900 to 6500 Angstrom units. The important thing is for the filter to exclude all light below 4900 Angstrom units.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of an ordinary tobacco curing barn or any other suitable bullding. The root 5 is a light lter of glass. or any other suitable material, designed to create the same effect as the container l of Figure l, hereinabove described. Tobacco bunches 6 are suspended from horizontal rods 1, said rods being supported by stanchions B.

I claim as my invention:

l. The process of curing tobacco products, which comprises inclosing the`tobacco products in containers having a spectral transmission of only above 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum and exposing the inclosed tobacco products while in the containers tosuch spectral transmission.

2. The process substitutive of aging while curing tobacco which comprises subjecting the tobacco to the influence of light waves oi a selected spectral region above substantially 4900 Angstrom units oi the spectrum only.

3. The process of curing tobacco which comprises subjecting the tobacco to the influence ot light above substantially 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum only.

4. An article oi commerce comprising a tobacco product which has been cured bythe inuence of light above substantially 4900 Angstrom units ot the spectrum only, and below 6500 Angstrom units. y

5. An article of manufacture comprising a tobacco product which has been protected from housed in a chamber of substantial size charac:

terized in that it is ordinarily not carried about on the person. wherein the tobacco is subjected 4 f mesmo to the influence of iight above substantially 4900 9. The method substitutive of aging tobacco Angstrom umts of the visible spectrum only. products which method commises subjecting said 8. A method substltutive for the aging process products to lightl whose wsve lengths are above ot tobacco which method comprises subjecting substantially 4900 Angstrom units and excluding the tobacco to the iniiuence o! light above subfrom said products light whose wave lengths are 5 stantiaily 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum substantially below 4900 Angstrom units. only. MAYNE R. COE.

CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,158,610. May 16, 1959.

` liAYNE R. COE.

It is hereby certified `that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, first column, line 5'6,Kfor the numeral "1490" read M900; same page, second column, line 6, for "L9" read 14900; line lll, after the `wordv "binder" insert material; and that the seid Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 15th day of JunepA. D. 1959.

Henry Van Arsdale (S-enl) Acting Comissioner of' Patents.

4 f mesmo to the influence of iight above substantially 4900 9. The method substitutive of aging tobacco Angstrom umts of the visible spectrum only. products which method commises subjecting said 8. A method substltutive for the aging process products to lightl whose wsve lengths are above ot tobacco which method comprises subjecting substantially 4900 Angstrom units and excluding the tobacco to the iniiuence o! light above subfrom said products light whose wave lengths are 5 stantiaily 4900 Angstrom units of the spectrum substantially below 4900 Angstrom units. only. MAYNE R. COE.

CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,158,610. May 16, 1959.

` liAYNE R. COE.

It is hereby certified `that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, first column, line 5'6,Kfor the numeral "1490" read M900; same page, second column, line 6, for "L9" read 14900; line lll, after the `wordv "binder" insert material; and that the seid Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 15th day of JunepA. D. 1959.

Henry Van Arsdale (S-enl) Acting Comissioner of' Patents. 

